Clutch Lighten the Mood on ‘Earth Rocker’ Single and Album

Clutch are still rocking hard as the band prepares for the release of their 'Earth Rocker' album, but frontman Neil Fallon tells Loudwire that the overall mood of the disc is a little lighter than their last few discs.

The frontman explained about the content shift, "I wanted lyrically this record to be more fun than the last couple of ones. Both 'Strange Cousins' and 'Beale St.' were both pretty dark records lyrically. This one has a bit more levity I think."

One of the songs that lightens things up is their current single and the album's title track, where Fallon himself is having a blast giving his best rock 'n' roll cackle. The singer explains, "The 'bu-ha-ha,' for lack of a better way to describe it, I wouldn't be doing that if Screaming Jay Hawkins hadn't done it in 'I Put a Spell on You.' I did that kind of as a goof in practice once and I told the guys I wouldn't do that and they said, 'No, please do that again and make that part of the song.'"

Even though it is a fun track, Fallon admits he has other uses for the song. He reveals, "It's a little bit of a self-motivational speech. It's something you say to yourself in the mirror before you go out and take on the day and that came about primarily when we were doing a lot of festivals. I heard a lot of young bands bemoaning or whining about having to play in the heat or the catering sucks or the crowd wasn't good and I just, maybe I'm getting old and cranky, but I just found myself saying, 'Shut the f--- up and play.' You should be so lucky that you have the opportunity to do this and most people would gladly exchange the opportunity to switch places with you at this point in time. Maybe I just found myself guilty of some of those same attitudes and had to slap myself out of it and that's kind of where at least the attitude of that song came about."

Clutch's 'Earth Rocker' arrives in stores March 19 and is currently available for pre-order here. Stay tuned for our full interview with Neil Fallon.